Book Review: "Literature and Language Learning in the EFL Classroom"

Abstract

Literature and Language Learning in the EFL Classroomconsists of nineteenchapters. The chapters of the book have been arranged into two parts: Part I, current issues and suggestions for new approaches (Chapters 1-6) and Part II, empirical and case studies (Chapters 7-19). The book takes multiple approaches to examine how literary texts can be incorporated into teaching practices inan EFLclassroom including 1) the use of extensive and close reading 2) narrative inquiry 3) translation and pedagogical stylistics, and 4)the evaluation of successful foreign language learners. It is worth mentioning that the increasing role of non-canonical English literary textssuch as post-modernist texts, simplified texts and pop song lyrics isthe focus of several chapters.The collection may be considered as unique in the sense that many chapters, either directly or indirectly, target the Japanese EFL classroom. In fact, 14 chapters out of 19 have been written by Japanese authors.This review provides a chapter-by-chapter account of the book.